Unbestimmte Scheinselbständigkeit

This thesis examines the legitimacy of criminal prosecution of employers in the field of false self-employment with regard to § 266a StGB and the constitutional principle of legal certainty (Art. 103 II GG). According to § 266a StGB it is a criminal offence for employers to withhold an employee’s contributions to the social security system. To determine who is considered as the employer the criminal law refers to social security law. However, this reference itself leads to legal uncertainty, as there are difficulties of delimitation between employment and self-employment. The resulting legal state is by no means satisfactory for the norm addressee, as one is not able to determine the scope of application of § 266a StGB with sufficient precision and thus recognise the boundaries between non-punishable and punishable conduct. The research outlines the constitutionally unobjectionable scope of application of § 266a StGB and explores methodological ways of implementing the required limitation.